I happen to like nicotine, that does not mean I want to eat your children!

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Sunday, 7 September 2014

Dear FPH - Just a quick word about John Ashton.

Unless it escaped your notice or perhaps you have not grasped just how batshit crazy Mr Ashton went this weekend, these blogs (Dick, Jo, Random Vaperand VapeMeStoopid) have the screenshots you need to see. This behaviour was NOT based on our beloved Fergus (or anyone) exercising his expansive knowledge of colourful & creative insults (which he didn't!) or anyone being abusive. This snowballed after a few of us asked reasonable and polite questions. Actually, one question got me blocked. Others didn't even have the luxury of ONE question. Thinking about it, I have no idea if I was blocked BEFORE all of this, none of us do!

Anyhow, hopefully you have seen the pics of the tweets and understand the true absurdity of the situation. I know others have done this too, but here is my personal letter of complaint to the Faculty of Public Health.

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Dear,

This is not a letter I take any pleasure in writing but I
feel that, in the circumstances, there is no other option. Please accept the
following as a formal complaint against the President of The Faculty of Public
Health, Professor John Ashton, under section 4 of your complaints procedure, as a result of inappropriate behaviour on social media. As
such I would like confirmation of receipt of this complaint and confirmation
that it has been forwarded to the registrar.

I am a Vaper, e-cigarette user if you will, of almost two
years. I and many others have made sure that we have kept abreast of all
developments in this area in that time period. I am a genuine person who is not
in the pay of industry of any description.
I would call myself an advocate, but be clear that I am an unpaid one.
In the course of trying to get the voice of the vaper heard and considered by
those in public health, tobacco control, the media and those in politics, I
(and many others) have been subjected to many accusations and insults. We have
been shut out and discounted for many reasons. We have observed and listened to
many experts in the field of Public Health talk in the media about things that
we know not to be true and yet we have not be able to redress the balance with
what we see as the truth and what the data refutes.

This was never more apparent than Professor John Ashton’s
behaviour this week, having appeared
three times in the media with unsupported claims and misrepresentations of
data.

As members of the public, we do not have the ability to
comment on these assertions. We are not able to talk with Mr Ashton via
anything other than social media.

However, when approached on Twitter (initially reasonably)
myself and others found ourselves blocked with no answers given to our
questions. A brick wall was very quickly
built and from behind it, with no way of us being able to respond or defend
ourselves, Mr Ashton began to hurl abuse.
Vapers who had not been involved in trying to communicate with him whatsoever,
found themselves being told they were addicts and slaves to this addiction.
From their perspective, this came entirely out of the blue as it appears Mr
Ashton had trawled through their timelines in order to find a tweet he could
then insult them from. This one I find
to be most disturbing, please note that the tweet he attacked is dated
20/08/2014.

For a man in a position of authority and power to deem it
appropriate to seek out and attack a member of the public for doing something
a) completely legal and b) is reducing their harm in place of smoked tobacco,
beggars belief. It is unfathomable to imagine that Mr Ashton is able to view
harm reduction for smokers with anything even approaching objectivity. To this
end, it is entirely inappropriate for him to be in a position of authority that
will have lasting effects on the future of e-cigarette usage in the UK. It is
bad enough that, as advocates, we have been shut out and ignored but to then be
called cunts, onanists, ‘lads behind the bikesheds’, addicts, tobacco industry
shills (Indeed shills for ANY industry) is beyond the pale.

If these are the thoughts that sit behind decision making
and position taking on e-cigarettes then it is clear that Professor John Ashton
and the Faculty of Public Health are not fit to be involved in the discussion. As such these personal attacks have to be
apologised for and Mr Ashton must have no further part in the wider discussion on
the place of harm reduction for smokers in society. This is a volatile
situation and involves the lives of many millions of people. To allow
yourselves to be a part of the movement that seeks to restrict access to what
may be life saving technology, based on the personal ideologies, prejudices and
ill informed opinions of one man calls into question the role of Public Health
in its entirety.

I look forward to your response,

Lorien Jollye

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I removed this paragraph being as it is best we don't get drawn into the details of misrepresentation of data, it avoids them using it to distract from the situation. I am putting in here cos I need to get it off my chest.

"This was never more apparent than Professor John Ashton’s behaviour this week, having appeared three times in the media with unsupported claims and misrepresentations of data. No example is clearer than his willingness to espouse the validity of the most recent data on E-cig use in US youth, from the CDC. One would hope that Mr Ashton had done more than read the conclusion/press release and seen that the data within the study does not support the resulting media frenzy. It is of great concern that a man in Mr Ashton’s position would not read a study before taking to the airwaves in order strike fear into the hearts of every parent in the UK. This alone is questionable behaviour. Further to this, to willingly overlook and underplay statistics from both ASH and Professor Robert Wests ‘smoking toolkit’ in order to push, what can only be called an agenda, the ‘Gateway to tobacco’ theory and that ‘self respecting’ adults would not use sweet flavours."

I find this entire situation both hilarious and terrifying. Whether or not the man was drunk when he embarked upon this bonkers and vicious campaign, is irrelevant. Alcohol does not create, it amplifies. The mask slipped and my god it was covering something breathtakingly ugly. This HAS to be addressed as people like John Ashton have NO right to be involved in this when he holds the people affected in such absolute contempt.

3 comments:

One can but hope that the FPH are deluged with such a tsunami of complaints that they will be unable to ignore the situation. It really does beggar belief that such a blatant ideologue should be put in a position to dictate policy on something that he quite openly despises. It speaks volumes about the relationship between 'Public Health' and the public they are supposed to be representing.